Inca Mummy Girl

While on a field trip to the local museum, one of the students breaks a ceramic seal in the coffin of an Incan mummy. The mummy rises and must consume the life-force of others in order to remain alive and retain her human appearance. She tries to fit in with the students at Sunnydale, and even starts to develop real feelings for Xander. But when Buffy, Willow, and Giles realize who and what she really is, they may have to rescue Xander before he becomes the mummyï¿½s next victim.moreless

Guide: Five hundred years ago, the Incan people chose a beautiful teenage girl to become their princess.
Willow: I hope this story ends with "and she lived happily ever after."
Xander: (looks into the coffin) No, I think it ends with "and she became a scary, discolored, shriveled mummy."

Buffy: So, can I go?
Giles: I think not.
Buffy: How come?
Giles: Because you are the Chosen One.
Buffy: Just this once I'd like to be the Overlooked One.

Xander: You're right, Ampata. We're not an archaeology club. We're in... We're in the crime club. Which is kinda like the chess club, only with crime and... no chess.

Trivia (11)

Goof: Ampata chooses to wear Buffy's gold lipstick. But when she is at the dance, the lipstick she is wearing is a different color.

Goof: The mummified corpse in the chest turns itself around between shots. At 27:21 his head is on the right side of the trunk when Buffy first opens trunk (she didn’t see it then), but when she finds it at 32:29 his head is on the left side.

Nitpick: It is surprising that no one at the museum noticed the broken seal, the wrong mummy, and other damage to the exhibits.

It seems reasonable to expect the teachers to do a head count on the bus before leaving the museum, and they should have known Rodney was missing.

Goof: In the museum, the mummy is not even attempted to be protected from prying hands and curious museum-goers. There is nothing covering the body, no velvet ropes, and it is exposed to the open air. This doesn't make sense, especially since the body would be valuable, as well as the seal.

Allusions (5)

Buffy: Ok, I'll still get Xander before he gets smoochy with Mummy Dearest. A play on Mommie Dearest, the book and movie about Joan Crawford's abusive relationship with her adopted daughter, Christina.

Band Name: Dingoes Ate My Baby From the true story of Lindy Chamberlain, an Australian woman who claimed that dingoes stole her baby daughter, Azaria, while the family was camping near Ayers Rock, Northern Territory in 1980, only to be suspected and jailed for the child's murder herself. The story was the inspiration for the 1988 movie A Cry in the Dark starring Sam Neill and Meryl Streep (Evil Angels for the Australian readers). The phrase, which is the name of the band, likely comes from a Seinfeld episode.

Xander: I'm from the country of Leone. It's in Italy pretending to be Montana. A reference to the "spaghetti westerns" made in the 60's and the director Sergio Leone. The moves were filmed in Italy but set in the western United States. Xander's poncho outfit is reminiscent of the outfits worn by Clint Eastwood when he starred in these movies.

Xander: You're not a praying mantis, are you? This is a wink at the audience, referring back to the season 1 episode "Teacher's Pet".

Oz: It involves a feather boa and the theme from A Summer Place.A Summer Place is a 1959 movie starring Troy Donahue. The theme song was a chart topper the year of the movie's release.